


Eternal Tails: Happy Days

by Pantalion



Series: Eternal Tails [2]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Codependency, Comfort/Angst, Constructive Criticism Welcome, Cute, Dark Past, Fluff, Gen, Hanging Out, Horror, It's Not Paranoia If They're Really Out To Get You, Mad Science, Mental Breakdown, Paranoia, Phobias, Psychological Horror, Reality Bending, Science Fiction, Slipstream - Freeform, Surreal, Tails Abuse, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:27:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 12,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25146955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pantalion/pseuds/Pantalion
Summary: There isn't a cloud in the sky. There's no dastardly plot to solve. Cream's come over to visit. Happy days are here at last for Miles Prower! Just so long as he doesn't ask too many questions. Which is more important? Happiness or truth? And can the smartest fox on the planet handle the consequences of his choice?
Relationships: Cream the Rabbit & Miles "Tails" Prower, Cream the Rabbit/Miles "Tails" Prower
Series: Eternal Tails [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1820140
Comments: 12
Kudos: 25





	1. Chapter 1

There wasn't a cloud in the sky.

The summer sun sparkled off the rooftops of Water Palace zone in the distance, flocks of sea birds paddled serenely in the azure waters, and a refreshing breeze blew out towards the coast, carrying with it the smell of fresh cut grass from the neighbouring hill zones.

And Miles "Tails" Prower, fox, genius, mechanic, and occasional, if unwilling, hero, could see exactly none of it. Which suited him fine.

Sure, the breeze felt nice against his fur as he lay stretched out on the runway by his lab, nestled beneath the fuselage of one of his planes, but the ticking of the ratchet in his hand as he worked had a soothing quality all its own. Every now and then he would reach a gloved hand out to a bowl positioned nearby to fish out a round mint which would disappear into his mouth with a crunch.

Miles sighed contentedly.

Yeah, this was pretty much perfect. Doctor Robotnik wasn't causing trouble, no angry deity or ancient warrior race had awakened to bring doom to the world. Sonic, much as he loved the hedgehog, was elsewhere and not making a mess of his lab. It was just a quiet, pleasant afternoon, with just enough work to keep his mind occupied.

"Good morning, Mister Tails, long time no see!"

"Ah!" Miles jerked upwards, banging his head against the bottom of the plane with a hollow metal boom that echoed between his ears.

"Oh no! Are you alright, Mister Tails?"

Rubbing his forehead, Miles twisted towards the origin of the cheery voice to see a pair of red and yellow shoes standing beside his head, their owners' pale-furred legs disappearing up into a dress the same tone of red.

"Cream?" Miles quickly averted his gaze and scrambled back to the other side of the plane. "Where did-what are you doing here? Is your mother okay?"

"Hm? Mom's fine, thank you. G-Merl is still there after all." The rabbit's smiling face poked down under the plane as she dropped into a crouch, hands gripping her knees.

"Oh... right." Miles nodded, he'd been the one to program the robot after all. "Well, uh, Sonic is currently over in Carnival Night checking out some strange energy readings. Do you want me to call him for you?"

"That's fine, no thank you." Cream smiled brightly. "I was just coming for a visit, that's all."

"You sure?" Miles raised an eyebrow. "You've come a pretty long- Wait, where's Cheese?"

"Cheese?" Cream's ears twitched as she looked over her shoulder, seemingly by reflex. "Oh. He stayed home to help Mom and Chocola today."

"Oh…" Miles nodded thoughtfully. He'd rarely ever seen Cream without the fluttering blue chao somewhere close at hand. Well, it wasn't like she needed the protection in these zones. Even a rabbit should be safe with Eggman not around, though-

"Mister Tails?"

"Whah?" Miles' train of thought derailed.

Cream leaned forward, her ears brushing the underside of the plane as she moved in closer, her nose only a few inches from his.

"Are you sure you're okay? You bumped your head pretty hard."

"Uh- I- No- I mean _yeah_ , I was... just... thinking, sorry."

"Oh, okay. You sure do think a lot, Mister Tails."

Miles squinted at Cream, wondering if she was making fun of him. He wasn't the best at dealing with girls, or strangers. And while Cream wasn't exactly a _stranger_ , they hadn't really interacted with her much… Well, he'd actively avoided her.

The rabbit girl tilted her head, returning his stare silently until suddenly she smiled once more.

"There you go again!"

Miles' cheeks prickled beneath his fur and he turned his head away, tails whirling around one another reflexively.

"Uh…. Yeah, I… I guess I was. Hey, can I get you anything?" Miles surreptitiously shifted one of his tails in front of his bowl of mint candies. "I've mostly got junk food. When Sonic shows up he's usually looking to intake as many calories as quickly as possible to offset the metab- uh... he's usually really hungry." He rubbed the back of his head. "So… I'm not sure what you eat, but it's mostly burgers and chilli dogs, though there's maybe a little salad left, some grapes, and… I think there's some ice cream in the cooler?"

Polite disinterest transformed almost instantly to childish delight when he mentioned that last one. Miles grinned. "Ice cream, right? Yeah, it's a perfect day for some. I'll be right back."

A little too quickly, Miles lurched up and back, scooping the bowl of mints up and into his hands as he turned and fled into his lab.

The warm summer day gave way to air conditioned chill. Miles pressed his back against the door as it closed behind him.

Was he doing this right?

While he'd come a long way from the feral cub that knew more about flicky nesting habits than basic mobian interaction, the number of people who visited Miles normally fell into only three categories. A: People who wanted him to fix or build something for them. B: People looking for Sonic. And C: Sonic. Miles' experience of actually having guests and having to deal with them was virgin territory for the young fox. Especially since the guest in question was a _girl_.

Well, there was Amy, but as far as Miles was concerned she didn't count. She'd been breaking into his lab to wait for Sonic for so many years she was practically family. Weird stalkerish family.

Miles peeked out the door. Cream had moved away from his plane to kneel down on the grass, her hands on her knees and her ears swaying gently in the breeze.

Okay, Miles swallowed. She really hadn't left. Sliding the bowl of mints onto the counter he rummaged in the fridge until he finally emerged with two cones and hurried out.

"Sorry it took so long, they were, uh, they were all the way at the back."

"It's alright." Cream's eyes lit up as they alighted on the cone in his hand. "Thank you very much, Mister Tails."

"Oh, no problem." Miles peeled off the wrapper of his own cone to reveal the green tinted ice cream beneath as he settled on the grass a little away from her.

"Um... what flavour is this?" Cream peered down at her own cone, a tuft of fur on her chin now tinted green.

"Mint!" Miles grinned happily. "Isn't it great? They don't usually have it in Water Palace so I had to fly some in."

"It's... very… interesting." Cream resumed eating, perhaps a little less enthusiastically than before, and the two fell into silence.

Miles shifted uncomfortably, tails coiling around each other as he ate. What to speak about? Was he _supposed_ to talk right now?

From what he knew of Cream, she was a happy, normal girl with a loving family, with a brave heart and a sweet, cheerful, temperament. She didn't care for violence or, apparently, mint.

In other words, she couldn't have _less_ in common with him. Maybe parents with terrible naming sense? Well, hers wasn't even _that_ bad in comparison. When they first met, even looking at her made him uncomfortable. She reminded him of his own youth, and that was a sore-

She was staring at him again.

"What?" Miles flinched, hiding behind a tail. "Is there some on my face?"

Cream, her ice cream cone mysteriously vanished without a trace despite her earlier hesitation, just smiled.

"You're a pretty interesting person, Mister Tails." She stood, dusting off her dress and tail. "Well... I can see you're busy, so I'll let you get back to work. Thank you again for the ice cream, goodbye!"

"Oh. Uh-"  
Before the already flustered Miles could stand, the young rabbit had turned and ran off towards Water Palace, waving behind her as she went. He waved half-heartedly after her before picking himself up and heading back to work.

"... Wait, where did I put my wrench?"


	2. Chapter 2

There wasn't a cloud in the sky.

The summer sun sparkled off the rooftops of Water Palace zone in the distance, a pod of whales basking lazily in the azure waters, and a refreshing breeze blew in from the coast, bringing with it the faint smell of brine.

"Hello again, Mister Tails!"

Once more working beneath his plane, Miles started at the sudden greeting, though without smacking his head this time.

"Cream?"

"That's me!" Cream replied happily. Today, from what Miles could see from his vantage point, she was wearing shorts and a shirt with a yellow star on it. "Since the weather was so nice again today, I'd thought I'd come and pay a visit again."

"Mhm." Miles rolled his eyes. Apparently she'd picked up a taste for mint ice cream after all. "Well, sorry but Sonic still isn't here."

"Really? That's a shame. Is he still in Carnival Night?"

"Yeah, that's right." Miles nodded, though she couldn't see his head anyway. "Did you want me to call him today?"

"No, that's fine. I don't want to bother Mister Sonic when he's busy." Cream twisted from foot to foot.

Didn't want to- What about when _he_ was busy? Well, sort of busy. Planes didn't fix themselves after all. Miles sighed into the access panel. "So… Can I get you anything? I still have some ice cream in the freezer."

"Hm… No, thank you! I'll just go sit over there, don't mind me."

"Uh, sure?" Miles glanced over at the rabbit girl as she wandered away from his plane once more, humming a little tune as she settled down on the grass where she began to pick flowers one by one.

Miles shrugged and looked away, content to ignore her and get back to work... Except he wasn't. A few minutes later, he found his eyes drawn to her once more. Then once more when he forced himself to concentrate, over and over, until his brain pieced together what was bothering him and he crawled out from beneath the plane to walk over.

"... No Cheese again today?"

This time it was Cream that started in surprise, almost dropping the chain of flowers she was holding.

"Oh! Mister Tails, you startled me!"

"Sorry." Miles grinned, rubbing the back of his head. "Just noticed you were missing your blue buddy too is all."

Cream shrunk down a little bit, twirling a finger round one of her ears. "Yes, Cheese is… staying with Mom again today."

Miles nodded sagely. That explained why she was here again, at least. Given how rarely the two separated… Well, he could relate.

"Alright!" The fox plonked down on the grass next to her. "Then the least I can do, as a fellow abandoned sidekick, is to keep you company."

"Abandoned sidekick?" Cream tilted her head at him.

"Sure, I've seen you in action. You follow Cheese around and point at things he needs to break." Miles grinned. "I do that too!"

"That seems wrong... somehow." Cream puffed out her cheeks.

Miles' grin just broadened.

That was easier. When people needed help, he could focus on identifying the problem and how to fix it. His brain actually worked in his favour, rather than running through endless scenarios and questions in his head. Getting sidetracked onto tangent after tangent while it explored all the possible angles of a situation. Like- oops.

Cream laughed, breaking through his lost concentration. "Thinking again, Mister Tails?"

Miles shrugged, picking at strands of grass by his feet. "I didn't say I'd be very _good_ company."

"I think you're doing okay." Cream smiled. "I'm... a little glad."

"What? Why?"

"I thought for a long time that you didn't like me very much." Cream picked another flower, weaving it into her growing chain with practised fingers.

"What? No, I…" Miles trailed off. It was hard talking to people his own age. Would she understand if he said it was what she represented? What she reminded him of? 'It's not you, it's me' seemed wrong in this situation, somehow. "I'm just… shy, I guess."

"I'm glad." Cream had picked out two more flowers in the meantime. "It's okay if you don't, though. You've always been nice to me. You helped Mister Sonic save mama when she was in trouble, and you fixed G-Merl to take care of us."

Miles nodded, tails twirling behind him. Smooth as silk. Now to seamlessly guide the topic away from himself and-

"So, how old are you, Mister Tails?"

"What?" Miles opened his mouth, then hesitated. "Eight, I guess."

"You guess?" Another flower.

"Well, I don't know my birthday." Miles shrugged, then smiled. "Or year. When I met Sonic, I guessed I was eight years old, same as Amy."

"You thought you and _Amy_ were the same age?"

"Yeah…" Miles leaned back onto his tails, rubbing a finger across a fuzzy cheek as he remembered. "Well, she was a lot smaller back then, though she sure got big fast. In the end, Sonic figured out I must have got my age wrong, so we had a big unbirthday party for me."

" _Un_ birthday party?"

"Yeah! He invited all his friends - well, Amy invited herself, anyway - and there was a _huge_ cake." Miles stretched his arms out as far as they could go. "And when I blew out the candles, boom, I was... Still eight again."

He smiled at the memory. "Well, now I celebrate my unbirthday on the same day each year until I catch up. Still not sure how old I am exactly though. Can't be much younger though. It's been more than four years since Sonic and I met, after all. And I… remember things before then."

"I… see." Cream wiped an eye with her glove.

"Are you okay?" Miles' tails straightened in surprise.

"I'm sorry." Cream brought her other hand up, leaving flowers unattended as she sought to stem the flow of tears. "Not knowing your own birthday just seems so… sad."

In the end, Cream did get another of Miles' precious supply of ice cream cones.

"Thank you." Cream rubbed at the still wet fur on her cheek. "I feel better now."

He _bet_ she did. Miles smiled. He couldn't be too bitter. He'd had one too, after all.

"Still, I could believe it if you said you were older, Mister Tails." Cream punctuated her statement with a lick of ice cream that left a green spot on her nose.

"Yeah, I bet. I look _so_ old." Miles flexed his tiny frame. He'd grown so little over the years that the little rabbit was almost caught up. "Oldest fox you've ever seen, right here."

Cream laughed. "Well, _that's_ true. But I meant how mature you are, Mister Tails. You seem to be so grown up, it's a little intimidating sometimes."

"Wow. First time someone's ever called _me_ intimidating. I better put these bad boys away." Miles dropped the pose, recovering his ice cream cone from his tail to resume eating.

Cream laughed again, brushing her ear back before finally standing, brushing her legs and tail just as she had the day before. Once again Miles had no idea where the ice cream disappeared to so fast. Well, most of it at least. Her nose was still green.

"Thank you very much for sitting with me again, Mister Tails. I should get home for dinner now." She bowed politely.

"Oh, uh, okay, sure." Miles glanced up. The sun was still high in the sky. "Well, safe journey back. Tell Cheese to stop being so mean to his sidekick."

He waved goodbye as she ran down towards Water Palace before standing up, still holding his own half-eaten confection as he turned back towards his plane.

Hm. Wait, maybe he should have mentioned her nose? She wouldn't get in trouble with her mom for eating candy before dinner, right?

Miles turned back, but there was already no sign of her on the rolling plains.

"Gone already?" Miles lowered both ears with a frown. "... Was she always that fast?"

He shrugged and headed back to his work, snagging a mint from the bowl before looking around for his wrench with a frown.

"Again? She's not stealing them, is she?" Miles turned back to where they were sitting to look for it, his frown deepening. "... Wait. What happened to the flowers?"


	3. Chapter 3

There wasn't a cloud in the sky.

And that bothered Miles quite a bit.

"Good-"

"Good morning, Cream. No Cheese today either, huh? Does the sky look alright to you?"

"Wh-what? No, he's- excuse me, what are you doing, Mister Tails?" Cream sounded nonplussed.

"Staring at the sun. It's okay, I'm wearing goggles." Tails tapped the dark lensed contraption on his face, still staring. "So what do you think?"

"I think that you probably shouldn't be staring at the sun, Mister Tails."

"Not that. The _sky_."

The was a short, presumably polite, pause.

"I think it's a very nice sky, Mister Tails. Are you feeling alright? How long have you been out here?"

"I dunno. When did you leave?"

Hands gripped his shoulders gently but firmly.

"I think it might be good if we called Mister Sonic today, please."

Miles stirred. "Right, right, good idea. Sonic will know what to do."

"Alright, we're going to go inside now, Mister Tails."

Accepting Cream's determined guidance, Miles shortly found himself in a completely black space. Cream's touch left, and he stretched hands and tails out, trying to map his environment.

"Uh, Cream? I can't see a thing."

"... Take the goggles off, Mister Tails."

"Oh." Maybe it _hadn't_ been a good idea to hang out in the baking sun so long. Miles peeled off the offending accessory with a sheepish grin to find an outstretched hand holding a glass of water just below his nose, Cream looking at him with an expectant expression "Uh. Thanks. And sorry, I must have seemed pretty weird out there. Let's, uh, let's go call Sonic."

Gulping down the cool liquid, Miles typed in commands into a console one handed, still waiting for his eyes to adjust. A ditty started playing for a few moments before being cut off.

"Tails! How's it going, bud?"

"Hi, Mister Sonic!" Cream cut in.

"Cream? Hey, good to hear from you. You and Tails hanging out?"

"Sonic, are you okay?" Miles cut in hurriedly. "You haven't called in days."

"Uh, yeah? I'm fine. Knux and I were just checking out these energy readings. Important stuff, you know?"

Miles rolled his eyes. Checking _anything_ in the Casino Night zone meant, of course, the two of them were playing around. "Okay, well, when you're done having fun, something weird is going on here."

"Weird how?" Sonic's voice became serious at once. "Eggman?"

"I'm not sure. The weather's been weird. No clouds for three days now, things are going missing around the lab..."

"Wait, you're worried because it's been _sunny_? Tails, bud, you have got to take it easy. Eggman's been quiet for months. Sure, he's probably cooking up something _big_ , but you've got to take the R&R when you can, alright?"

"I'm _serious_ , Sonic, it's-" Miles flinched as a flash from outside interrupted him, followed a few moments later by a deep rumble. "I- I'll be right back."

Leaving Cream talking to Sonic, saying things that sounded suspiciously like "Staring at the sun" and "heatstroke", Miles cautiously cracked open the door of his lab.

The warm and sunny weather had been replaced by thick grey clouds, torrential rain just beginning to fall to the ground below. Lightning crackled between the clouds, and Miles slammed the door once more, bolting at full speed back inside and under the desk with an impact that sent an avalanche of tools and pens tumbling down around him. Cream stared at him with surprise.

Thunder peeled through the walls of the lab once more. Miles crouched lower, fur bristling out until he was almost a ball of fluff.

"One point seven two." He shivered. "Five hundred and ninety."

"Tails, you hanging in there, bud?" Sonic's voice came from the speaker, full of concern.

"It's a storm now, Sonic. This isn't normal." Miles muttered. "Please come - ah! - please come here soon."

Thunder rumbled again seconds later. Sonic's voice began to distort.

"W~ren't you just saying ~re were no clouds? Y~re going to~ okay, b~dy. ~s just a st~m. If anyth~g happens and Egg~n does show up, call me. I'll be there in a flash, al~t? Cream, take car~f him." Another flash, and the communicator along with all the lights in the lab went out. Thunder rumbled near instantly. Thirty seven meters. Miles shivered lower against the floor with a muffled whimper.

"I will, Mister Sonic!" Cream's urgent voice sounded from near Miles' ear. "Mister Tails! Are you alright?"

"B-b-been better." Miles shivered as light flashed through the lab's main window, waiting for the thunder. "Two hundred and fifty six."

"What are you counting?" A hand pressed lightly against his back. He could feel his heartbeat pounding against it.

"Distance." Miles mumbled, his voice muffled from his head being under his tails at this point. "Sound travels at three hundred and forty three meters per second under laboratory condit-IAGH-ns." Another flash penetrated his eyelids. "The time after a lightning flash that thunder arrives is the approximate proximity of the th-Ah!-nder. One thousand one hundred and sixty nine."

A warm presence settled next to him.

"It's amazing that you can count so well when you're scared, Mister Tails." Cream's soft voice tickled the back of his flattened ear. "When I'm scared, it takes all I have just to try to stand up and be brave."

"Can't be brave. Not lightning." Miles muttered, flinching at another flash. The hand on his back patted him gently. "Don't understand. Nobody under- Two hundred and fourteen."

"Help me understand, then, Mister Tails." Cream's gentle voice eroded his fear, ever so, ever so slightly. Like rain on a mountain.

How could he explain? How didn't she know? Lightning was _death_. Fear was totally _rational_.

A billion volts randomly arcing across the sky, completely at random? Planes might be giant flying faraday cages, but he _wasn't_. He'd seen flickies - _friends_ \- fried just by being _near_ lightning. He'd nearly been killed by forest fires when storms had ravaged the island. So many near misses...

"I see." Cream said simply, still rubbing his back. "That _does_ sound scary."

What? Miles tensed. He hadn't even realised he'd said anything.

"But you're _inside_ now, Mister Tails." Cream murmured. "And the storm is out there." Her hand smoothed down the raised fur on his back. "It's getting further away." Warm breath blew into his ear. "You're getting safer and safer."

And she was right. Little by little, the lightning was getting less frequent, less close. The vice around Miles' chest slowly eased, and the terror faded.

And when Miles opened his eyes once more, sunlight was filtering in through the window. Cream was nowhere to be seen.

And there wasn't a cloud in the sky.


	4. Chapter 4

The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the grass rippled in the wind.

Hunched at his desk, with half his computer disassembled before him, Miles didn't notice.

He did, however, notice the knock at his lab door, though he didn't look up.

"G-"

"M'rning, Cream. Thanks f'r yest'rday." His voice twisted around a screw held in his mouth.

"Huh? You don't need-"

"No Cheese again?" Miles still hadn't bothered looking up.

"... No."

Cream almost whispered the reply. Miles regretted asking.

"Well, make y'rself at home. Mint?" He pushed the bowl in her general direction with his tail, almost knocking it off the table in the process. A gloved hand snapped out and pushed it back up.

"You seem... busy again today, Mister Tails." Cream's soft voice came from by his ear as she settled close. "Computer trouble?"

"Needed the p'rts." He mumbled, tossing what remained of a circuit board into a growing junk pile on the floor at his feet.

Cream reached out and pulled the screw from his mouth. "Mister Tails, please don't do that. You could choke. Can I help you at all?"

"Sure, thanks. Could you pass me the needle-nosed pliers? Think they're next to you."

"U-um. Alright. Which one is-"

"'S fine, I got it." Miles curled a tail around Cream, groping around for a moment before coiling the tip around the tool and snaking back to drop it into his hand.

"Hey!"

Cream's cry broke through Miles' focus enough to realise what he'd done. He dropped the pliers and turned in his chair, hands stretched out before him. Cream glared down at him, cheeks puffed out indignantly, her hands on her hips.

"Sorry! I was too focused on-"

"No _fair_ showing off, Mister Tails!" Cream pouted, twitching her own fluffy tail a few times and huffing.

Miles blinked a few times, then burst out laughing.

"And now you're laughing at me!" Cream sniffed. "Mister Tails, you're terrible."

"Ahh, sorry, Cream." Miles grinned, once he managed to calm down. "I needed that."

"I'm glad you're feeling better, Mister Tails." Cream smiled. "I've been feeling a little worried about you lately."

Miles stared up at her before sliding the mess of components into a pile on his desk. What was it Sonic said to do again?

"Alright!" He surged to his feet. "The rest can wait. Let's get out of here and do something _fun_."

Cream blinked at him, tilting her head. "Fun?"

The fox just grinned, holding up a single finger and poking Cream in the forehead.

"Tag. You're it."

Before the rabbit could gasp a reply, Miles was already gone, the door swinging in his wake.

It had been a long time since Miles had run solely for the fun of running. Usually, he was either chasing Sonic - an activity too strenuous to be relaxing - or he was trying to get somewhere fast, in which case he was usually too focused to enjoy it.

But right now? The fields spread out before him, flowers and grasses blurring together in a panoply of colour. It felt like he could run _forever_. Like he could go faster, and faster, until-

"Using tails is _cheating_ , Mister Tails!" Cream raced after him, ears flapping behind her as she struggled to keep up with him.

Laughing, Miles obliged by, naturally, cheating more. He spun around to face her, reversing the spin of his tails to propel him backwards instead. His hands stretched out toward her.

"Come on! You can do it!"

"You're so meaaan!"

Eventually, with a final lunge, the breathless rabbit caught his hands, only to give a surprised yelp when Miles jumped backwards, still holding her, to fly upwards into the sky, spinning to gaze out across the sparkling Water Palace zone, still distant despite how long he'd made her run.

"It's always so pretty from up here." Cream murmured.

Right, he'd almost forgotten that she could fly herself, at least a little, using her ears. Unusual for a mobian. Normally he was the one airlifting others from place to place.

"We came all this way. Why don't we head over to your house?" Miles kept climbing. "I could have a word with Cheese for you."

"No, that's-"

"How about Water Palace?" Miles pressed on. He'd known she'd refuse anyway. "We can hang out by the water and cool off?"

"Sure! It's been a long time since I've been in Water Palace."

Miles raised his eyebrows, panting now. They started to lose altitude as his tails reached the limit of their spin. "Great! Well I can't- whoa!"

"Why don't you take a break, Mister Tails?" Cream flapped her ears unexpected, flipping up so now he was dangling from _her_ arms.

An unusual perspective on life for him.

The pair actually managed to remain airborne all the way to the next zone by switching off like that. Cream couldn't keep flying quite as long or quick as he could, especially without Cheese to help, but it was more than enough time to reset his tails in between each bout.

Still, Miles couldn't help but be glad when they arrived, gliding down to gracefully deposit Cream onto the street before dropping down himself, rubbing his aching butt as he looked around.

"I don't think I've ever flown that long before." Cream gripped her ears in both hands to rub them.

"Yeah, me neither. Well, not by myself. Well, not without riding in a vehicle. Though I guess I was riding- No, wait-"  
"Pardon me-" Cream shifted her hands on her ears. "What was that?"

"... Yeah, me neither." Miles rubbed the back of his head. "Good flying."  
"Thanks. That means a lot, coming from you, Mister Tails." Cream winked.

"So…" Miles looked around the empty streets. "Where is everybody?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe there's a festival going on somewhere. Should we check the beach?"

"Sure, but... stay close."

The beachfront was similarly deserted, but a lonely vending machine deposited two ice cream cones for them readily enough.  
Miles sat on a narrow wooden wall that extended out into the sea, his shoes trailing in the cool water as he ate some "pink" flavour of ice cream with nowhere near Cream's enthusiasm. He broke the bottom off the cone and tossed it to a seabird swimming by, but it completely ignored it.

Nearby, Cream walked through the shallow waters, paying careful attention to the depth as she moved to watch for any unexpected waves. Unlike humans there were very few mobians that could swim. Low proportional body fat, exceptionally dense frames and water repellent fur meant that most, even Sonic, just sank the moment they hit water, moving like a hippo along the bottom.

Hm. Would Sonic appreciate being compared to a hippopotamus?

Probably not. Miles snorted to himself. Cream definitely wouldn't. Which was a shame, hippos were cool, and she was pretty-

"What are you thinking about, Mister Tails?" Cream was right next to him now, watching him stare at her.

"Uh…" Miles blinked. "Hippos?"

"Mister Tails! You're _mean_!" She splashed water at him.

He jerked back by reflex - too far back. Miles had a moment to look surprised before he dropped backwards into the water with a splash and sank down to the bottom.

… Huh. Surprisingly deep. Well, he probably deserved that. Tails looked up at the sky through a lens of waves and foam until a worried face poked over the top of the wall above.  
… Wait. She _knew_ he could swim, right?

Moments later he found the answer when a pair of boots landed on his head. A seeking hand caught his and _pulled_ , feet still firmly planted on his face. Most of the air streamed out of his lungs in a pained grunt as he pulled out from under her, almost knocking her down but for the grip she had on his hand.

Shaking sand out of his ears, Miles twisted in her grip in an awkward reverse judo throw that ended up with her behind him, hands around his shoulders. Feeling her release him in her confusion, Miles clamped down on the cuffs of her gloves with his teeth before kicking off, hands and tails working in unison to propel the two of them to the surface.

"You can swim?!"  
"Mph!" Miles grunted, her gloves still clenched between his jaws as he paddled, breathing hard through his nose as he scrabbled at the slippery wall.

This was taking too long. He was already tired from flying so much. Cream was interfering with his tails, and swimming _wasn't_ easy at the best of times. He was going to sink again in a moment and then they'd be back where they started.

Well... he wasn't a first class sidekick for nothing.

Grabbing Cream's arms from his mouth, Miles threw her up and over the wall, sending himself sinking back down into the depths with the motion. He plopped down on the sand, once more on his back, looking up out of the water.

… Okay, now he was _literally_ back where he started. Hopefully he could do without the boots to the face this time.

His second attempt without the added encumbrance was more successful, and he erupted from the surface of the water, spinning tails sending water spraying in all directions to lift just far enough to grab the top of the wall and heave himself over. Cream grabbed his arm and clung to it as though he might fall again just to spite her.

"Mister Tails!"

"I'm fine. Just a little water." Miles grinned, rubbing his aching jaw with his free hand.

"Are you sure? I was so scared!"

"Cream, I'm _fine_. I've been getting hit harder than that since I was four years old. I didn't even lose a ring."

"That's- that's even worse!"

"Well-" Miles paused and consciously took the conversation away from the topic. "-why did you jump in if you were scared?"

"I didn't know you could swim!"

"You _can't_ swim! What were you going to _do_?"

"Well I-" Cream's expression suddenly changed. "Oh no, it's really late! I have to get home to dinner now. Thank you for playing with me today. I had fun!"

With a quick bow, Cream spun around and bolted along the wall.

"Bye Cream! See you tomorrow!" Miles watched her go with a cheery wave, watching until she disappeared among the quiet buildings.

Finally.

Miles stretched out, shook the water from his fur, and started to leisurely run in the direction she had gone.


	5. Chapter 5

Miles didn't know how long he'd been running.

The sun was still high in the sky, slowly baking him as he went, but he still pushed himself to move faster, wind blowing through his long dried fur.

He wasn't generally a prideful person. Quite the opposite, really. He _knew_ he was second best, and he respected his betters - even holding a grudging respect for Eggman's genius, well hidden as it was sometimes.

But at the same time, being second best meant having a good idea of exactly who he was second best _to_. In the case of running, they could be counted on two hands, and at least half of them were robots.

None of them were rabbits. There was no way the real Cream could have reached her house before he did, just as the real Cream would never be apart from Cheese this long. Their game of "tag" earlier had confirmed it, whoever this person was, they definitely weren't Cream, and they were keen to hide that fact.

Wait.

Miles skidded to a halt, staring up at the sky. The sun had gone, hidden behind a thick grey cloud that hadn't been there before. The change was so sudden his eyes took a moment to adjust to the darkness.

"Oh no."

Miles bolted.

Another cloud billowed out of the first. Then another, expanding from where the sun had been.

This _had_ been one potential outcome. Miles looked around the flat landscape. He'd cut through the wilderness as a shortcut between Water Palace and Cream's house, and now he was stuck out in the open. The literal highest point on a flat plain, with a lightning storm building above him one cloud at a time.

"No no no no." He built up enough speed that he was almost taking off, his toes trailing the ground to steer him as his tails propelled him along with the power of a jet engine. A rumble sounded overhead, illuminating the plains as sheet lightning burst in the skies above. Zero point one seconds. Practically on top of him. His heart pounded in his ears like a drum urging him to move even faster.

Another flash. Another rumble. Stalking him. Miles yelped as lightning illuminated the horizon.

A house? A house!

At the speed of sound Miles streaked towards the house, trying to outrun the storm and failing. Fence. He dove over it, rolling back to his feet and slamming into the door with a thud.

"Please be op-" The door opened first try, he fell inside as a lightning bolt struck close behind, flooding his nostrils with the smell of ozone and leaving his ears ringing from the blast.

Miles slammed the door, leaning down against it with a shiver as rain began to patter against the door behind him...

But nothing else. The lightning had stopped. Miles eventually unwrapped from his tails, peering about the gloom surrounding him. It smelled like… oil? Mint?

…. Wait.

Miles stood, reaching beside the door to hit the lightswitch. His own workshop flickered into view.

"What… is going on here?"

"Good evening, Mister Prower!" A familiar voice called brightly from beside him. Miles whirled around to see Cream standing by him with a sweet smile, hand raised in a small wave. "What _are_ we going to do with you?"

"Cream? Wh-"

A palm snapped into Miles' fuzzy chest, sending him hurtling through the air, slamming into the far wall. Light flashed across Miles' vision from the impact. Cream caught him as he dropped, already next to him as rings danced across the ground around him.

"We've tried a _lot_ of things now, Mister Prower." She effortlessly slapped aside his hands and tails, dropping him back onto the floor and stepping onto his chest. "Your damaged brain makes it difficult, but we've _tried_. Everything you have ever wanted, we have given to you again and again."

Miles tried to speak, but couldn't. The ball of her foot had shifted to his windpipe. His attempts to move her might as well have been trying to lift a mountain.

" _Fear_ works better." Cream shook her head. The pleasant expression on her face and gentle voice completely at odds with her words. "Fear will keep you quiet _much_ longer than anything else, but you _always_ rise up and overcome eventually."

Her face became hazy as his oxygen starved brain began to struggle.

"This time, we even provided you with a friend. But here you are." Cream looked disappointed. "It's like you don't _want_ to be happy, Mister Prower."

Cream reached down, brushing her fingers down the side of his head, pressing even harder with her foot.

"But don't worry, Mister Prower. We'll keep on trying for as long as it takes."

As Miles blacked out, the last thing he heard was Cream's voice as she tousled his fur.

"Love is patient, after all."

* * *

There wasn't a cloud in the sky.

The summer sun sparkled off the rooftops of Water Palace zone in the distance, flocks of seabirds paddled serenely in the azure waters, and a refreshing breeze blew out towards the coast, carrying with it the smell of fresh cut grass from the neighbouring hill zones.

And Miles "Tails" Prower, fox, genius, mechanic, and occasional, if unwilling, hero, could see exactly none of it. Which suited him fine.

Sure, the breeze felt nice against his fur as he lay stretched out on the runway by his lab, nestled beneath the fuselage of one of his planes, but the ticking of the ratchet in his hand as he worked had a soothing quality all its own. Every now and then he would reach a gloved hand out to a bowl positioned nearby to fish out a round mint which would disappear into his mouth with a crunch.

Tails sighed contentedly.

Yeah, this was pretty much perfect.

"Good morning, Mister Tails! Working on your plane again today?"

Tails poked his head out from beneath the plane with a grin. Cream, wearing a yellow dress today with flower embroidered shoes, waved a greeting.

"Hi, Cream! Yeah, it seems whenever I fix one thing on it, another breaks lately. You doing okay?"

"I sure am!" The young rabbit beamed at him, raising a picnic basket in both hands. "I thought I'd bring you lunch today, since all I ever see you eating is candy."

"I don't _just_ eat candy." Tails pouted. "I ate a chilli dog for breakfast today."

Cream looked scandalised.

"Mister Tails! If you don't eat properly you won't grow big and strong."

"What do you mean? Don't make me bust out these guns again!" Tails flexed his bicep. Or… tried to.

"That's very impressive, Mister Tails." Cream nodded gravely. "Maybe I should bring lunch every day?"

"Hey!"

Bullied into compliance, Tails left his work to settle down on the grass beside her, helping her lay out a spread of sandwiches, cupcakes and a full plate of cookies onto the ground.

"So the cakes and cookies are 'eating properly', right?" He gazed at her, eyes half-lidded.

"I baked those for dessert." Cream nodded matter-of-factly. "You have to have dessert with your lunch. But eat your lunch first!"

Tails nodded. He generally held the same attitude to food as Sonic - his brain needed a decent amount of readily available glucose to operate at peak efficiency - but he guessed it couldn't hurt to eat something that looked like it might contain a vitamin once in awhile. He reached for half a triangular cut sandwich before an outstretched hand stopped him.

"Hold on, Mister Tails. You're covered in oil." Cream pulled a handkerchief from her dress and pressed it up against the side of his head. "There we go. All better."

She withdrew the handkerchief, now stained a rusty orange brown. Tails touched his ear as he stared at it, holding out his fingers now stained the same colour.

"... Heh heh. I... guess it dripped in my ear and I never noticed." Tails gave a weak smile.

Cream laughed. "That does sound like you, Mister Tails! Once you start thinking about something there's no stopping you!"

"Bad habit, I guess." Tails grinned. "I'm just going to clean my gloves. Can I get you anything to drink while I'm in there?"

"I'm fine, thank you." Cream bit delicately into her sandwich.

"Don't eat them all without me!"

"I wouldn't!" Cream made a face after him.

As soon as the door closed behind him Tails raised his finger to his nose and sniffed deeply.

"... Blood."

He'd been…

Pain exploded in the back of his head bad enough to send him to his knees.

He'd been to the beach. Fell in the… water. He'd...?

Tails shook his head. Sonic. He needed… Sonic. He'd know what to do.

Weaving back to his feet, Tails stumbled over to his desk, only to find the computer in pieces all across it.

"Wh-... Wait. I did this." Tails ran his fingers across the components, dropping to the chair. " _Why_ did I do this?"

"Mister Tails!" Cream stood at the doorway, her arms folded and her cheeks puffed out. "I thought as much. You said you were going to wash your gloves and instead I find you sitting in here _working_."

"Cream, I-" Tails raised his hands in protest, only to have a sandwich pushed into them.

"Here. I don't know what you're working on that's so important, but you have to eat properly or you'll get sick."

Tails rubbed the back of his head. "Haha, you win, Cream. I'm sorry." He took a bite, staring down at the mess on his desk while he chewed. "Hey, these are really good!"

Cream stared at him, a strange expression on her face. "Are you sure you're alright, Mister Tails?"

"Huh? I'm fine." Tails raised an eyebrow.

"I'm glad." Cream smiled. "I was worried you were mad about yesterday."

"Hah. So long as I don't find you hiding under my bed, we're good." Tails took another bite, tapping at transistors with his still blood-stained fingers.

"Hiding under your _bed_?" Cream covered her mouth.

"Ask Amy." Tails smirked. "Yeah, all my other friends show up out of nowhere, eat all my food, crash on my couch and make me fix their stuff. In fact, you're the first friend I've had who's brought more food here than they've eaten. Do you happen to need a genius sidekick?"

He'd needed… parts? What had he been about to build?

Cream laughed. "You said I'm already a sidekick, remember? Sidekicks can't have sidekicks, I'm pretty sure!"

Tails blinked, staring at her as she giggled, brushing her ear back over her shoulder.

"... Hey, Cream?" He chomped down on the last of his sandwich.

"Yes?" Cream perked up next to him, still smiling.

"Do you think you could... stay for dinner tonight?"

Cream gasped, her eyes widening.

"If it's too sudden, maybe tomorrow night? Let your Mom know first?"

"Are you _teasing_ me again, Mister Tails?" Cream's eyes took on a glassy quality.

"C'mon, please? It would make me really _happy_."

Eyes still blank, Cream's mouth twisted slowly back into a smile. "Well sure! If you put it like that, Mister Tails, how can I say no?"

"Great! I'm looking forward to it!" Miles grinned. "Well… Don't get your hopes up too much. I barely know how to work a microwave."

"Mister Tails!"


	6. Chapter 6

Happiness, Miles mused, must be a state of mind.

The sun was shining high above, warm, sleepy weather perfumed with pollen and the smell of cut grass.

Miles yawned, lying beneath his plane with one tail under his head.

It didn't matter how many times he fixed it. It wouldn't fly. It would _never_ fly. It _existed_ to be broken, because he enjoyed fixing things. And whenever he stopped paying attention, it would break again in a slightly different way. His tools would return to the toolbox. Over and over, day after day. He could fix it forever and never be finished, never be bored.

The fridge never ran out of food, the weather was always perfect, the beach was always open, and abandoned. There were always flowers to pick the moment you looked away. A perfect, if shallow, playground.

So long as he didn't pay attention.

And then there was Cream. Quick to forgive, quicker to laugh, always smiling and ready for anything. Miles turned to stare at her. She was _supposed_ to be handing him tools, but the weather had claimed its first victim and she dozed peacefully beside him, a half crafted crown of flowers scattered around her.

He yawned again, fighting sleep. If he slept she would leave, and the "day", such as it was, would end. He _should_ go into his lab. She would wake up and follow him within minutes, talking, helping, playing, having him help with dinner - never _make_ dinner, not after his first attempt - but those were minutes he could actually get a little work done.

Miles lazily stretched out his hand, feeling her slow, even breaths though the thin material of his glove. After spending the vast majority of his life alone, Miles couldn't remember the last time the two of them had been apart for any real length of time. It was... a surprisingly comfortable feeling.

Again, at least if you didn't pay attention. At least if you didn't ask _why_ she was there. And that was a question that Miles had never really stopped asking for any of his friends since he'd left Cocoa Island. Only he already _knew_ the answer for Cream.

Drawing his hand back with a sigh, Miles looked back to his plane. It was broken. If he pushed himself he could remember how it had been fixed just moments before.

Yes, "Cream" was there as a _distraction_. Simply by being there she kept him from testing the bars of his cage, observing him to make sure he was playing by the rules. And the more time passed, the more he had to remember, the harder it got _to_ remember. Harder to pay attention.

And though she probably wasn't the real Cream, she was real enough, mobian enough, that he couldn't bring himself to hurt her. That wasn't what a hero would do. She hadn't _really_ done anything to him, after all, beyond being unreasonably pleasant all the time.

Shaking his head, Miles sat up, mentally preparing what he'd do with the sparse time he had unmonitored. The rabbit sighed in her sleep, then rolled over to lay squarely on top of his tails.

"... Seriously?"

Miles flopped back to the dirt with a grunt. Truly a diabolical bunny. With another yawn, he surrendered to sleep at last, another day lost.

Well, there was always tomorrow.

* * *

Glorious sunlight streamed into the lab through its open window, accompanied by the sound of birdsong from singers Miles had never actually seen.

He sat at his desk, idly piecing together another simple toy from the endless junk scattered across it. The little yellow bot stomped across the desk, firing paperclips in a wide arc into dozens of older siblings in all the colours of the rainbow, sending them sprawling.

How long had it been now?

Weeks? Months? For all he knew it had been hours. He certainly didn't _feel_ older, but he could tell that "lucid" days like today were getting rarer. Peace and happiness were smoothing his sharp edges like a glacier eroding a mountain range. Half the time he couldn't even remember what he had built all these toys to hide, his progress was getting exponentially slower to the point he might _never_ finish.

A hand laid on his head as Cream leaned past him, depositing a steaming plate beside the toy devastation.

"Oh, Mister Tails, why are the things you make always so… violent?" Cream frowned.

The bot swivelled to launch a bulldog clip into his mashed potatoes. Miles plucked it out and licked it.

"What can I say? I'm a simple fox." He grinned. "Great as always, Cream. Thanks for cooking again."

Cream smiled. "No need to thank me, Mister Tails. I told you I love to cook." She gently turned the bot aside just before it sent a salvo of tacks into Miles' dinner. "I can't have you learning how either. There's not much I can do better than you, after all." She winked.

Even the conversation was warm and familiar. They slipped into their roles like a pair of well worn sneakers, ready to retread old ground. Miles sighed.

"Hey, Cream?"

"Mm?" The rabbit perked her ears, fork sticking out of her mouth.

"Are you... happy?" Miles twirled his own fork between his fingers.

"What do you mean?" Cream smiled, staring at him wide eyed. "We're _very_ happy."

"What?" A chill crept down Miles' spine for some reason.

"I said I'm _very_ happy, Mister Tails. I _love_ spending time with you. Every single day."

She reached out a gloved hand to gently tousle the fur on the side of his head. "Even though you're always making those _awful_ toys."

Miles was halfway into a grin when Cream suddenly pulled him, chair and all, towards her, holding his face just in front of her own.

"Why do you ask, Mister Tails?" Her breath tickled the fur on his face from its closeness. "Aren't we being nice enough to you?"

Miles stared at her, flustered. He could see his own blue eyes reflecting off her unblinking gaze. The same expression she got whenever he asked about Cheese or her mom. "W-w-well…"

"Yes?" Cream whispered, still staring at him, hand still pressing lightly against the side of his face.

He licked her nose.

"Wh-wh-what?!" Pink spread down Cream's ears as she thrust backwards. "Mister Tails!"

"I panicked!" Miles was glad his own fur provided him with more of a poker face. "You were being weird!"

"I made you dinner! Don't eat _me_!"

Miles just grinned, flashing the teeth.

"No! You're terrible, Mister Tails! Just terrible!" Cream hunched over, covering her head with her hands.

Miles just laughed. "You spoil me plenty, Cream. Maybe I just don't know what you get out of being here with me all the time."

Cream peeked out from between her arms before uncoiling with exaggerated slowness.

"We just want you to be _happy_ , Mister Tails." Cream smiled at him. "That's what friends are for."

Miles nodded absently, staring hard at the pile of fallen toys and paperclips. He picked up a blue one and stood it beside the yellow one.

"...Yeah. That's what friends are for... Thanks Cream."


	7. Chapter 7

There wasn't a cloud in the sky.

The weather was baking hot today. Buzzing insects flitted too and fro across the endless sea of flowers, humming in the still, turgid air of summer.

"Hey, Cream." Miles smiled dreamily in the shade under the plane, trailing a finger across the fur of Cream's shoulder.

"Mm?" The rabbit glanced up from beside him, the inside of her ears a deeper pink than usual as her body tried to handle the brutal heat.

"Get me a soda?"

Cream stared at him aghast. "Mister Tails, didn't I just get you that ice cream cone? You're still eating it!"

Miles looked at the green cone in his hand as though it had just appeared, then shrugged. "Yeah, but... now I want a soda?" He grinned cheekily.

"Can't you get it yourself?"

"It's too hot to moooove." He took a lick of his ice cream.

"I'm hot _too_ , Mister Tails." Cream huffed. "I've been getting you things all day. And I _just_ got you ice cream!"

"Yeah, but... I'm fluffier than you." Miles stuck out his tongue. It was green. "Plus, it's more fun to make you go."

"What?!"

"Well you _did_ promise to spoil me as much as I wanted..."

"I never said that!"

"Sure you did. You said 'Mister Tails, you're so fuzzy and cute, I promise to do anything to make you happy. That's what friends are for'."

"I didn't say that!" Cream puffed out her cheeks and stomped her feet.

Miles laughed. "Then why are you standing up to go?"

"I- I- Mister Tails, you're the worst!"

Nevertheless, Cream had indeed stood, and started towards his lab, grumbling to herself.

Miles smirked.

Hard work was _also_ a matter of routine.

The moment the door closed, he pulled a circuit board and a few wires from his glove, twisting them hurriedly into place with his fingers before sliding it back. He could trim and solder later.

Scant seconds later, far faster than he could have done it himself, Cream emerged, carrying two frothy glass mugs of soda

"Why thank you, Cream. You didn't have to do that." Miles grinned.

Cream glared at him. "Why is it _I'm_ doing all the work and _you're_ the one that looks tired?"

"I guess because I'm always thinking." Miles nodded gravely before tipping the ice cream out of his cone into the soda. "See? It's hard to be this smart all the time."

Cream groaned and fell to the grass. "If you wanted a float, why didn't you ask?"

Miles shrugged, green foam dripping from his upper lip. "Because it's hot! I hadn't thought of it yet."

Cream sighed, plonking down on the grass and fanning herself with her ears.

"... You know what I'd _really_ like, though?"

"Mister Tails!"

* * *

How long had it been?

Miles counted time in toys now. Entire regiments sorted by colour, laid out from one end of his desk to the other. A hundred? Two? He didn't have time to count them in these stolen moments, so he estimated by how many columns were complete.

"Mister Tails, weren't _you_ the one who said we should watch a movie?" Cream called reproachfully from the couch

"I'm just waiting f'r the popc'rn." Miles spoke around the screw in his mouth, soldering iron swiftly moving across circuitry. His head _ached_.  
"The popcorn's already _done_ , Mister Tails. I heard it."

"Yeah, I'm j'st getting it now!" All the time.

"Am I going to need to get it? And you? You're working again, aren't you?"

"You've been running around after me all day, it's about time I take care of you for a change." Multitasking to carry out these conversations, hold the design in his head, plan schemes to grab as many stolen seconds as he could, to move, talk and laugh like nothing was wrong.

And to be _mindful_. Always _aware_. Never stop _thinking_. Because when he did he might never start again.

The blue and yellow bots stood in front of the army. He stared at them as he closed the plastic casing, trying to focus-

A warm hand rested on his head. Cream pushed her cheek up against his, her ear hanging over his shoulder.

"Mister Prowwwerr." Her voice tickled his fur.

Uh oh. She only called him that when he had pushed things too far.

"Just getting it _now_ , are we?"

Miles laughed, clutching the back of his head. "You caught me. I was almost done so I thought I'd finish it up quick. Sorry, I'll go get it now."

He went to push the device into the pile of junk on the desk but a gentle hand laid over his own.

"This is the first time you've made something that isn't one of yours toys in awhile, isn't it? Can we take a look?"

"Uh, sure. It's not quite ready yet. Going to be cool when it's finished though." Miles held it out to Cream and she took it gingerly.

"So what does it-ah!" Cream went to sit next to him but missed the chair. As she flailed her way to the floor the device slipped from her fingers and smashed into the wall hard enough to turn it into splinters. "Owies. Oh no! Your invention! We're so sorry, Mister-" Cream's expression changed from contrition to fear. "Mister Tails?!"

Miles blinked slowly at the shattered pile of electronics that had he'd been working on.

"Mister Tails!"

Was he crying? Why was he crying?

"Are you alright?!"

Miles reached up to wipe the tears from his eyes, staring at the bright red stain on his glove in confusion.

"... Cream?"

Miles fell backwards, eyes rolling up in his skull.


	8. Chapter 8

"You gave us quite the fright there, Mister Prower. And we _don't_ like surprises."

Gentle hands kneaded the fur on his head, a sensation that penetrated deep within his skull.

"C… Cream?" Tails twitched, blinking his eyes but seeing nothing.

A finger laid across his lips without the hands on his head ceasing their soothing motions.

"And we thought you were doing so _well_." Warm breath sighed across his face. "You seemed to be having so much _fun_ tricking us."

The hands on his head shifted, and so too Tails felt them tug through his brain.

"So messy." Cream sighed. "You couldn't help yourself, could you? Such a clever little fox you are, it seems you had a little too much to _think_."

Tails closed his useless eyes, the rocking in his head chasing his thoughts from place to place, unable to settle.

"Poor little thing, all full of chaos and holes. We have so much _work_ ahead of us." Her fingers brushed deeper, chasing the depths of his consciousness. "But don't worry, Mister Prower, we'll do whatever it takes to make you better. We'll never let you go."

Tails faded.

"Your happiness is important to us, after all."

* * *

Cream brushed her fingers over the fox's long fur, staring at the sleeping face laid on her lap.

"Wake up, Mister Tails. It's morning."

Tails didn't stir in the slightest, his chest barely rising each breath.

Her legs hurt. Her back hurt.

They'd hurt for longer than she could remember. But that was okay. Cream smiled to herself, humming a simple melody as she waited, brushing her fingers over the fox's long fur, staring at the sleeping face laid on her lap.

"Wake up, Mister Tails. It's morning."

Tails didn't stir in the slightest, his chest barely rising each breath.

She was hungry. When had she last eaten? She didn't remember. But that was okay. Cream smiled to herself, pressing on her stomach as she waited, brushing her fingers over the fox's long fur, staring at the sleeping face laid on her lap.

"Wake up, Mister Tails. It's morning."

Tails' nose twitched. Cream smiled in anticipation… But he went still once more.

Cream wept. She'd been weeping as long as she could remember. But that was okay. Cream smiled through her tears, brushing damp fingers over the fox's long fur, staring at the sleeping face laid on her lap.

"Wake up, Mister Tails. It's morning."

How long had she been waiting? How long had she kept this solitary vigil?

She wished the fox would wake up. She wished she could lay down and sleep herself. She wished she could scream until she could scream no more. She wished she could tear her own fur out by the handful. Anything to break the endless waiting.

But that was okay. Cream smiled through her madness, humming a simple melody as she waited, brushing tender fingers over the fox's long fur, staring at the sleeping face laid on her lap. Her _raison d'être_ , the one they loved so much. For him, she could endure forever if she had to.

Because she had to.

"Wake up, Mister Tails. It's morning."


	9. Chapter 9

There wasn't a cloud in the sky.

A simple melody carried over the fields, cosy and familiar, accompanied by birdsong and carried away by the breeze.

Tails stirred, not quite awake, and burrowed his face deeper into his tail with a sigh, lulled into laziness by the warmth.

Soft fingers brushed through the fur on his head.

"Wake up, Mister Tails. It's morning."

The voice was so sweet, Tails was tempted to snuggle deeper, to coax the speaker into saying it just once more. But he cracked open an eye with a yawn, stretching out muscles numb with sleep to gaze languidly up at the speaker.

"... Cream?" He sat up, rubbing drool off his face as he looked groggily around the endless meadows around him. "... Huh. Must've dozed off."

Part of his brain whispered discontent. Something about his lab? The... pattern?

Whatever. Tails yawned again.

"Hey, Cream." He brushed dust out of his fur. "How long was I asleep?"

"All night long. You wouldn't wake up, Mister Tails!" Cream whined, kicking her feet. "Now my legs are asleep!"

"Oh no! I'm so sorry!" Tails gasped. "Because I feel _great_."

"Mister Tails!"

He grinned. "It's true! You have incredible talents."

"I-"

"As a pillow."

Cream puffed out her cheeks at him. "You're so mean."

Tails' grin broadened. He _did_ feel pretty good though. His head didn't hurt, his body felt rested. He felt so much less… stressed. However much the voice in the back of his mind was trying to change that. What was he even supposed to be paying attention _to_?

"Well, I would say fair's fair and let you take a nap on me, but can I take a rain check? I'm _starving_ for some reason. Want breakfast? My treat."

Cream made a face. "Microwaved chilli dog?"

"No way." Tails shook his head. "A world-class pillow deserves a world-class breakfast. I'll microwave you up some cereal instead."

"You're not funny." The rabbit closed her eyes with a sigh.

"I am _hilarious_." Tails drew himself up to his full height. "Three out of five hedgehogs agree that I am easily the second- Cream? Cream, you okay?"

"Huh? I'm fine, Mister Tails." Cream smiled, her cheeks glittering in the sun. "I just... can't seem to stop crying for s-" Her voice broke. "-some reason."

Cream fell to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably into her ears.

"Ah! I'm sorry! I wasn't going to microwave your cereal, honest!"

The little rabbit didn't stop.

"I'm not funny! I never meant to make you sad! I'm sorry I called you a pillow!"

The voice in his head went silent.

Tails leaned forward, coiling his tails around Cream as he pulled her close, feeling her slight body heaving in his arms.

"Shh, it's alright." His hands ran softly across the short patch of fur between her ears. "It's alright, Bunny-bun."

Tails let out soothing noises, running his fingers along the back of her ears as her tears soaked into his fur.

"No need to be sad. Everything is fine. Safe and happy and together forever."

Tails' mouth split into a wide grin.

"We love you too, after all."

* * *

Tails yawned, curled up with one tail under his chin as he stared across the fields trying not to blink, or doze off, which was growing increasingly likely with every passing minute.

Curse this lazy weather.

"Mister Tails?" Cream's voice came from behind him. "What are you doing?"

"Waiting for you to get here." Tails turned to look at her with a frown. "I thought you weren't coming today, it's been so long!"

"When have I ever stayed away?" Cream laughed. "I've been here for five minutes!"

"What?! I was watching the whole time!"

Cream laughed harder, settling onto the grass next to him. "Didn't we talk about this yesterday? My house is in _that_ direction." She pointed. In the _opposite_ direction she had yesterday.

"What?" Tails groaned. "I stayed awake for nothing."

"You're so silly, Mister Tails." Cream smiled. "Take a nap if you really want. It's less breakfast for me to make."

"Don't threaten me, Bunny." Tails lurched into a sitting position, stretching his arms as wide as they could reach. "Hey, where do you even _go_ when you're not here?"

Cream froze, her expression blank.

"... My house?"

"Makes sense." Tails nodded. "Hey, why don't you move in here with me? Saves you a walk every day."

"You just want breakfast earlier." Cream sniffed.

"Well, there _are_ perks." Tails grinned. "I'm serious though. There's plenty of space. I could set you up a bed and then we'd be together all the time."

"I'll think about it."

Cream sighed distantly. Tails followed her inside, idly planning how to arrange the space if she said yes while she went about making food.

And why wouldn't she? It only made sense. It was just the two of them, after all. Why be apart unnecessarily?

Hm. Shift the couch around? Or the TV?

He never used his old desk anymore. Why not use that space?

Tails gazed at the desk, buried beneath rows upon rows of little mechanical toys, at the dent in the wall where he'd never quite got around to cleaning up shards of plastic and wire.

How long had it been since he'd made any of these things? This sort of thing had seemed so important to him, once. They seemed so trivial now.

In front of the toys, for some reason, two had been left out. A blue one and a yellow one, standing together, apart from all the others. Tails peered at them incuriously for a moment before separating them, putting them back to complete the set. Thirty-two full columns of ten, each a different colour.

Miles grinned.

He'd finally had time to count them all.


	10. Chapter 10

"Hey, Cream. Wanna see something cool?" Miles leaned back from his desk. The nighttime sun streaming in through the window sent a crisscross of shadows across his fur.

Cream looked up from her bed where she'd been quietly watching him, ears perking up slightly before she made a face.

"You know I don't like those toys you make, Mister Tails."

Miles gave her a smug look.

She came over anyway, just as he knew she would, still clutching her blanket in one arm as though to bring along the comfort she'd lost.

"It's been a long time since you made any toys, Mister Tails."

"Yep. I'm officially out of the toy industry. Have been for ages." Miles grinned, holding aloft a small plastic case just like the one he'd built once before. "This is a bomb."

Cream cringed. "Mister Tails, that's even worse!"

"No way! This is a bomb even you'll love." Miles tilted his chair back, propping himself up with his tails as he held the device up to the sun. "This is a logic bomb."

Cream tilted her head. "Mister Tails, what's a logic-"

Her hand lashed out, snapping around Miles' wrist with overwhelming force. The bone snapped, the case slipped from limp fingers.

"Th-thought you might feel that way." Miles blinked back tears, now dangling from Cream's iron grip.

"How disappointing, Mister Prower. Why do you keep making us do this to you?"

"You… c-could make the simulation less obvious." Miles spoke through gritted teeth, shivering with shock. "I n-noticed ages ago. The sky's wrong colour. The refractive index of the atmosphere is-"

Cream smiled and threw him across the lab. He bounced off her bed and into the far wall with a crunch.

"Very good, Mister Prower! You are such a clever fox." She clapped her hands together delightedly as he slid down to the floor. "We'll have to fix that next time around."

Cream stooped to pick up the case, crushing it one handed into a spray of components that joined her blanket on the ground.

"Sorry again about your invention. We know you love making them, and we are so very proud of you for trying. How many times is this? Seventeen now? It seems even a friend wasn't enough to stop you in the end."

Miles weaved to a sitting position, panting. His wrist was bent wrong, dangling limply at his side. Tears flowed freely into the fur of his cheeks.

"It… it hurts." He sobbed. "It hurrrts."

In a moment Cream was standing over him making shushing noises. "There, there. It's alright, little fox. This will all be over soon."

"I'm scared." Miles cowered away from her. "Please, d-don't hurt me again."

Cream smiled gently, kneeling down in front of him and laying her hands on his shoulders. "Don't worry, we'll make you good as new." Grabbing the weeping fox by the shoulder she pulled him close, her breath tickling the fur on his face as she ran her fingers through the fur on the side of his head. "We love you, after all."

"Good to know." Miles lunged his head forward, locking his lips against hers in a kiss.

Cream shoved him back with a shriek. "M-mister T-T-Taiilllsss!"

"Ugh. Cooties." Miles spat, wiping his lips vigorously with the back of his still usable glove. It came away with a bloody tinge.

"Mister Tails you are the-" Cream gasped, covering her mouth as she realised the state he was in. "What happened?! Are you-"

Miles raised a trembling hand. "Help me up. Don't… talk. I know you're confused, but I don't have time to explain right now, alright? Help me over to… the desk."

Cream opened her mouth, fear and confusion in her eyes, but she scooped him silently into her arms regardless.

"Sorry for kissing you." Miles panted in pain. "Needed you… to wake you up f'r a few minutes. Can't get much more... self-aware than embarrassment."

"Did I do this?" Cream's eyes started to fill with tears.

"Had worse. Since I was four years old, remember?" Miles grinned up at her, eyes still watering. "Down please."

Cream set him down before the shattered heap of plastic and metal that was all that remained. Miles limped over it, dropping heavily to his chair, Cream hovering close at his side.

"Hey, dunno if you can hear me." Miles spoke towards the window. In front of him three hundred and twenty little toys clung together in a growing ball of beeping metal. "Breaking my remote doesn't do much when I already pressed the switch."

Making a rude gesture towards the sun, Miles turned away.

"Hey… Cream?"

"Mister Tails? What's going on?"

Miles reached out for her, standing unsteadily with her help. Behind him the beeping grew ever louder.

"Simulation should... crash. I'm not sure what's going to happen... to you... or me." He squeezed her hand. "But... don't be scared. I'm going to be right here with you. Okay?"

"Al… alright, Mister Tails." Cream squeezed his hand back, trembling slightly. "I- I'll try to be brave, too."

Miles stared into Cream's brown eyes, weaving slightly. He wasn't sure if she was really Cream. He wasn't sure if she was real at all, but… she'd been his constant companion for so long, the only other person in his entire world. Even though they had almost nothing in common, Cream had filled his solitary existence so completely and for so long that ending it left an ache inside worse than his shattered arm.

She was staring at him.

Cream smiled, dashing a hand under her eyes as the beeping reached a crescendo.

"It's good to see you thinking again, Mister Tails."

Miles smiled back, a lump in his throat.

"Thanks for being my-"

01000010011010010110011101110100011010000110010101100011011000010111010001101001011100110110001001100101011100110111010001100111011010010111001001101100

**The End**


	11. Epilogue

Miles opened his eyes, pain bursting across his arms and legs as his thrashing pulled needles free of his flesh. Viscous stinging liquid obscured his vision.

He couldn't _breathe_.

Squeezing his eyes shut against the pain, he reached out, spreading all six limbs - _hadn't one been broken?_ \- like feelers to map his environment. Cables, unknown mechanisms, tubes that he tore out of his nose and throat, making him gag bitter fluid into his mouth.

Walls. Ceiling.

Miles groped upwards, bare fingers pressing against... glass?

 _Couldn't breathe_.

Forcing his eyes open to the burning muck once again, Miles saw a darkened chamber beyond. Fuelled by adrenaline he slammed his tails into it as hard as he could through the gel, pushing himself back to the bottom with the impact.

Again. He brought his feet under him, pushing off the bottom with all six limbs, spinning his body to smash into the glass. He felt it shudder from the impact.

Again. He surged upwards, consciousness dimming once more.

Again. He heard muffled cracks. His lungs burned.

 _Again._ He launched, and the glass finally gave way. Miles scrambled upwards, dragging through shards of glass that left stinging cuts as he finally erupted, gasping for breath in the frigid air beyond. A sharp tug yanked at the back of his neck as he heaved himself out, and Miles reached up to feel hard metal at the base of his skull, blood on his fingertips.

Heaving a shuddering breath, Miles pulled himself upright, glancing around to see a large computer screen beside the capsule from which he'd pulled himself, a single line of green text flashing on it.

> HAPPYDAYS.EXE :: OFFLINE

A distant alarm sounded. Miles stiffened, turning his head towards the noise. A door, beside a capsule like his own, its own screen showing a message just like his own.

"No." Miles whispered, his voice hoarse from disuse and damage alike.  
He stumbled over, shivering and coughing.

There within, with wires and tubes protruding from all across her fur, hung the limp body of a young rabbit, her dull brown eyes staring vacantly out at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this alternative look at Tails the Fox.
> 
> The Tails/Cream ship has always been an interesting thing to me, primarily because of just how different the two characters are, especially videogame Tails, which our Miles is based off. Cream is a mild mannered pacifist with a distaste for weaponry and a sweet, caring, personality, while Miles is a literal child soldier who happens to be the only major hero in the setting willing to get down and dirty with guns and grenades.
> 
> It's this same dichotomy that has me Happy Days into a very tricky story to categorise for me. It starts out as a very fluffy, happy story between a boy and a girl getting to know one another a little better, which tends to alienate a good chunk of people who see it. Then it turns into a dark, unsettling story that alienates a bunch more people who were just here for the fluff. Hopefully it never quite loses that trace of friendship between the pair, and picks up enough weirdness that you enjoyed the ride in the end.
> 
> As always, if there's something you didn't like, or think could have been done better, please let me know in a comment. If you liked it or want to see more of something, well, please let me know that too.
> 
> If you have opinions on the tags I've used, please, let me know, because I have no idea what I'm doing. :D


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